British Sailors Forced into Iranian Waters - Apology Needed!

[BlackRain]

British Sailors Forced into Iranian Waters, Says Hoon

By Nick Mead, Political Staff, PA News


The eight British servicemen seized by Iran last week were “forcibly escorted into Iranian territorial waters” before they were detained, the Ministry of Defence said today.

The six Royal Marines and two Royal Navy sailors were captured after their patrol boats were said to have strayed by mistake into the Iranian side of the Shatt al Arab waterway – sparking a tense three-day stand-off.

It was thought the men had accidentally entered Iranian waters on their way to Basra to deliver one of the patrol boats to the new Iraqi Riverine Patrol Service.

But in a written statement Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said: “In a recent debriefing the crews have said that they were operating inside the Iraqi border and were forcibly escorted into Iranian territorial waters.

“Our assessment continues and will be greatly assisted by the retrieval of navigational information in the Global Positioning System equipment carried by the crews.

“We are very concerned about the blindfolding of the men and have made representations to the government of Iran.

“We have made it clear that we do not expect a recurrence of this incident.”

He said British personnel were issued with modern charts and equipment which should be sufficient to prevent straying across the border.

Mr Hoon also disclosed that the Iranians have failed to comply with yesterday’s deadline set for the return of the British equipment, including three boats, weapons, ammunition, radios and navigational equipment.

After the men’s release last Friday, Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi said his country would return the equipment.

One of the men returned home today for medical reasons associated with the incident and another two returned as their tour of duty ended.

The remaining five continue to work in Iraq, Mr Hoon said.

Source: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3146529


I hope that the guests on this board that believed the Iranian propoganda give the British a big apology.

[todd]

I can back this story up from speaking to one of the guys in person. The border is very clearly marked with bouys in that area - so they had no doubt that they were in Iraqi Waters before the incident/ambush. They were forced in to Iranian waters because they were outgunned - 5.56 vs 12.7mm!

[cut]

Before anything more serious is done about this the government will have to work out who stands to gain from this action, we don't want to gift the Iranian hardliners any more support then they already have.

[usa320]

There was a T-shirt for sale back in the late 80's...it showed mickey mouse giving the middle finger, and below it in quotes it said "**** OFF IRAN"...

I would love to see that shirt again...

[DE_Six]

Why am I not surprised...

I wonder where Iran is trying to go with something like this... They must have realized no good could possibly come out of this.

The British marines/sailors were captured by Revolutionary Guards, maybe it was their own initiative. They tend to go unchecked alot, unlike the regular military. Religious wackos with guns and an axe to grind sitting on a contested border facing what they consider to be the "minions of evil"... That's ingredients for a nice international incident.

[cut]

Why am I not surprised...

I wonder where Iran is trying to go with something like this... They must have realized no good could possibly come out of this.

The British marines/sailors were captured by Revolutionary Guards, maybe it was their own initiative. They tend to go unchecked alot, unlike the regular military. Religious wackos with guns and an axe to grind sitting on a contested border facing what they consider to be the "minions of evil"... That's ingredients for a nice international incident.

The Revolutionary Guards are accountable to the religious nuts, not the moderate government. If it was only the moderate government in power without the ayatollas watching over them, Iran would probably be a proper democracy by now. The good relations the west have with Iran are with the moderate government not the ayatollas.

[SFontaine]

I say give us our gear back and give us an apology

[DE_Six]

The Revolutionary Guards are accountable to the religious nuts, not the moderate government. If it was only the moderate government in power without the ayatollas watching over them, Iran would probably be a proper democracy by now. The good relations the west have with Iran are with the moderate government not the ayatollas.

My idea exactly. The way I see it, some local clergyman ordered his RG henchmen to kidnap British servicemen, putting his government in hot water. The moderates then kept up the image for a few days, brandishing hollow threats of prosecution as not to alienate the religious leaders, but got rid of this hot potato ASAP by releasing the marines/sailors.

[BlackRain]

Some quotes from members regarding this incident:


Are they sure that it was not just another case of the RN (Royal Navy) grounding some more of it's boats after navigational error!! LOL


Perhaps you Brits should leave Iranians alone...

This is second such incident. During Telic small group of Brits landed on Iranian side of Shat. Some reports say they were told where they are after which they apologised and left, some say there was some shooting with no casualties on either side.

I heard Iranians said that if this is due to navigational error Brits will be released soon.


go iran


a **** storm? so now Iran cant enforce its own borders? This kind of reminds me about a incident involving a couple underwater divers....

Can you blame Iran for enforcing their borders? Especially in light of the discussions that certain people/countries think that Iran is trying to build a nuke.

[Pille1234]

First of all make sure that the revolution freaks don't get a second chance for such a coup. Don't escalate but be prepared.

[Flagg]

Why am I not surprised...

Nor am I


I wonder where Iran is trying to go with something like this... They must have realized no good could possibly come out of this.

Not necessarily......

What if Iran did it to send a message or to use the Royal Marines as a bargaining tool?

It's not particularly far-fetched that back-channel/non-public communication/negotiation includes the odd bit of very public activity.

One of many possibilities:

What if Iran did it to pressure Coalition forces to release Iranians detained in Iraq?

What if it was done in response to activity occurring within Iran on it's border with Iran and/or Afghanistan by the Coalition?


The British marines/sailors were captured by Revolutionary Guards, maybe it was their own initiative. They tend to go unchecked alot, unlike the regular military. Religious wackos with guns and an axe to grind sitting on a contested border facing what they consider to be the "minions of evil"... That's ingredients for a nice international incident.

It's makes for a convenient scapegoat..."Sorry, rogue elements within an independent unit......we'll sort it out......will not happen again" ;)

[cut]

The British marines/sailors were captured by Revolutionary Guards, maybe it was their own initiative. They tend to go unchecked alot, unlike the regular military. Religious wackos with guns and an axe to grind sitting on a contested border facing what they consider to be the "minions of evil"... That's ingredients for a nice international incident.

It's makes for a convenient scapegoat..."Sorry, rogue elements within an independent unit......we'll sort it out......will not happen again" ;)

The Iranian government is reformist, it wants to go against the old guard, as do the students, remember the riots? From the outset the media here made it clear that this were the actions of revolutionary guards and not the Iranian army, because the R.G. are not controlled by the government and therefore the situation was played, down if the government had done this then action would have been taken.

[ZeroPositive]

What a bunch of TWATs :P

[DPGLAW]

Like I said in the previous thread about this incident- The Iranians are asking for it. THey deserve an attack by us or our great allies. They are provoking the world, by making and eventually selling or giving to terrorists, nuclear weapons, sending fighters into Iraq, supporting the terrorists in Iraq, and selling/giving the aforementioned technology to terror groups, and paying those familes whose members commit suicide attacks and they back terrorist attacks

[cut]

Like I said in the previous thread about this incident- The Iranians are asking for it. THey deserve an attack by us or our great allies. They are provoking the world, by making and eventually selling or giving to terrorists, nuclear weapons, sending fighters into Iraq, supporting the terrorists in Iraq, and selling/giving the aforementioned technology to terror groups, and paying those familes whose members commit suicide attacks and they back terrorist attacks

this is how hitler started out..

[American Patriot]

i agree, we need to stop appeasing hitler (khamenei) and kill all his ilk.

[cut]

i agree, we need to stop appeasing hitler (khamenei) and kill all his ilk.

if only it were that simple, we don't want to damage the chance of iranian democracy, the students, the elected government need our support against the ayatollas.

[n4292936]

Have they actually returned the equipment yet? If the above story is in fact true, and they Marines were in fact forcibly excorted into Iranian waters, I doubt the GPS equipment will come to us intact - certianly not the recording parts anyway.

i agree, we need to stop appeasing hitler (khamenei) and kill all his ilk.

if only it were that simple, we don't want to damage the chance of iranian democracy, the students, the elected government need our support against the ayatollas.

It's just a matter of time before they see all the bad that comes out of the ayatollah's, they are just bieng brainwashed and they will wake up and I bet you that they will ask the US for support....(taking out the ayatollah's)

[todd]

Have they actually returned the equipment yet? If the above story is in fact true, and they Marines were in fact forcibly excorted into Iranian waters, I doubt the GPS equipment will come to us intact - certianly not the recording parts anyway.

They still have all the kit, although there's nothing too exciting or secret. The boats (CSBs) were fairly knackered anyway. The GPSs were all the lads personal ones, not issue ones. It would be nice to see it all back though, and I think UK was waiting to get the lads back before complaining about the kit. You will probably find that even if central government agrees to return it, it may have been thoroughly rifled and redistributed by the IRGCN anyway.